[[Master of Barbs]] is a Lizard and fits nicely with the "an opponent lost life this turn" theme of the Lizard tribe from Bloomburrow because they offer a lot of ways to trigger it. I've put together a very aggressive build on Arena and snagged the "win 25 games with 20 nonland maindeck cards from Reality Fracture" achievement using it.

The list is here: Rakdos Lizards

The sideboard is a piece of crap right now, but that's probably something I could improve on. Do you think it's worth putting any more effort (and possibly Arena wildcards) into tuning it? It's certainly able to generate a lot of damage very quickly, but I don't know how good it really is because I'm still sitting at Platinum on Arena after the monthly reset.

One thing I tried that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped was the 4/4 God for 2RR that makes noncombat damage to opponents do at least four - it was hard to consistently cast at four mana and it required other cards on the board to do that boosted damage.

Decklist

So I've been messing around with Darklight Pheonix, and I've arrived at a deck thats pretty fun while also winning a good amount of the time... in bo1. I think there may be something here, but there are two big problems I need help solving.

1: We need a plan for graveyard hate. This is the reason I've kept to bo1 thus far. I dont know how the deck functions when there's a RIP in play.

2: There needs to be a compelling reason to play Darklight instead of Bringer of the Last Gift combo. If we're putting effort into filling the graveyard, it would be better to just win the game instead of attacking with 3/2s.

For problem one, I know other formats like modern use [[Pheonix Fleet airship]] to beat GY hate, but I dont think thats viable in standard. Saccing stuff is a genuine hurdle, we cant do it every turn for free like they can. Maybe we could try building up cards in hand and then bouncing the RIP, discarding the Pheonixes, and having a big turn that way, but I think that plan is too vulnerable to the opponent doing anything. I think the answer might be to have a plan to mill the opponent instead. If we shift to a more controlling build we could run [[Singularity Rupture]] maindeck and then have some Riverchurns in the sideboard to combo them out. That might solve problem 2 as well, a control deck doesnt overlap with Bringer combo as much.

Those two issues are what I want the most input on but obviously I'd love to hear more generic suggestions as well.

I played my first RCQ today (Standard) and was wondering if you guys felt or experienced these same things.

First off, I'm running Boros Dragons in standard, I had every piece except a couple Voice of Victories were magda or Jennifer Walters to save some money. I've played the deck plenty on Arena BO3 and know it inside and out, but..

Every single player at this tourney (that only had 9 players btw) was playing some form of control. Now im not super anti-control or a giga hater, but I think I saw maybe 2 or 3 creatures the entire 5 hours of this RCQ.

Despite playing an aggro deck, the rock paper scissors idealogy failed me and control just beats kinda everything in standard now in case you havent played (Mono green landfall only exception).

Aggro doesn't really exist anymore after the bans, and midrange is pretty much dead outside of Mono Green and occasional Dimir (which is actually Tempo).

But honestly I have no major issues with any of that, thats just how the meta has worked out.

My bigger issues were my opponents manners and the insane amount of flooding/screwing. Out of 5 rounds I played, at least 2 out of 3, one player was getting screwed or mana flooded and lost directly as a result.

I'm not lying, I saw multiple matches completely decided by screw and flood for every single player. It felt like half of the entire tournament was just decided by RNG. Do people really find pleasure in driving half to a full hour to play at these events for 30$ just to get nothing in return even with a few wins?

These shops all stopped providing any kind of fun single booster reward here and there for coming and winning a couple games.

But to top it off, my control players all just had the craziest mannerisms, and a few pretty salty and annoying behaviors that just pointed towards a more lack of social awareness than rudeness I hope but can't be sure.

I'm talking like, these control players would take 6+ minutes deciding what to play, just to pass with nothing played and holding all their mana. Which I GET, but they had they AUDACITY multiple times to ask me if I was done yet as SOON as i hit main phase two and not even two seconds has passed.

I shit you not, one guy asked me if I pass the moment combat phase was over after he killed my momo, and I was like umm no I have a main phase two and I'm gonna play my second momo. Then of course takes 10 minutes to play a Tablet and pass.

Is this really the RCQ experience? Has anyone else been to one lately and experienced any similar sentiments?

I'm just left wondering if this is what competitive magic has become, it just doesnt feel worth it to grind RCQs to grind RC to grind pro tour just to have a chance at the Championship.

Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well.

I've been wanting to play a new deck for a while now—something other than Control or Mardu Discard.

Artifact Affinity caught my eye because there are 12 cards that fit the archetype perfectly; in fact, 8 of them are the same ones used in Modern (ignoring the fact that there are many more tools available there).

Emissary Pinnacle, Weapons Manufacturing, and Ravenous Robots have incredible synergy with Springleaf Drum and—with the new *The Hobbit* release—Giant's Boulder.

You can generate solid value using Tezzeret to tutor up a 1-drop and Krang to draw up to 4 cards.

I've been thinking about win conditions:

Improvised Arsenal can deliver a massive hit; it combos well with the Skateboard, or even with Gingerbrute to make it unblockable.

Or perhaps even with Rust Harvester to deal significant damage to the opponent.

I'm running into a few issues with this deck:

1) I'm not really utilizing the Munitions tokens created by Weapons Manufacturing at all. I feel like I'm missing out on a huge opportunity there.

I considered a Jund Sacrifice-style build with Biotech Specialist and The Sackville-Bagginses, but that’s a different kind of deck—it focuses more on the token gimmick than on artifacts.

I also thought about Legion Extruder, but it costs 4 mana (2 to cast and 2 more for the ability). Maybe Umbral Collar Zealot? I'm not sure.

2) I feel like I'm still lacking value. Krang is great, but costs 2 Blue mana (which is tough if I've been spamming spells), and Tezzeret—at best—comes down on turn 2 to fetch a 1-drop.

Quantum Riddle might be an option, but I want to keep the deck mostly artifact-based to maximize triggers for Pinnacle, Ravenous, and Weapons.

Could you guys throw some ideas my way?

With all the Jace tokens and Ajani, Unrelenting kicking it in draft will we see the return of a plainswalker centered deck in standard? Is anybody doing some brewing in that direction? I'd like to try, but this project would be a huge wildcard sink, and I don't have to WC budget to start from scratch.
Thoughts guys?

Real talk? Boros dragons has become entirely aggro now? All lists cut the 5 drops Lorehold and Dragonhawk. I dont really count Nova because it is mainly played for its warp.

Seriously, how good would a 5 drop dragon have to be in this meta to be playable?

Every dragon printed from now on basically requires haste to be playable

I always see this post floating around on Spikes for standard when a new set comes out and thought it might be worth bringing a similar discussion here! With the new cards out and everyone Goyf-pilled and convinced the new phoenix is the return of the ‘Gak, this might be an interesting space to cut through some noise: what’s working and what isn’t, and is anything looking it could shake up to tilt at the meta an interesting way?

(I’m also away and not playing right now so this lets me experience the set vicariously!)

Turns out I see this on spikes so often that the app thinks I should crosspost! Any pioneer gamers here do chip in, there are dozens of us!

You know the deal people, the new set is out, so what's working and what's not?

I have been trying Azorius Surveil and Boros Superfriends and have been impressed by both. To be honest this set is full of great cards and I expect to see the Meta shaken up a lot!

[[Way of the Pyromancer]] and [[Solitary Cell]] have already been great, a lot of the one and two drops in Azorius have also been impressive for me, I think there is something in the deck for sure. [[Proctor of Potential]] feels really good in it's ability to come back from the yard.

Hello everyone! I made a video outlining my Draft Strategy, Pick Order, and Archetype breakdowns for Reality Fracture. I hope it is helpful to some :)

Video version: https://youtu.be/8s1rjfxPrqc

Format Overview

• The format appears to midrange-focused with the power concentrated at 4-5 mana cards
• Early plays that have late-game relevance will be important
• Most decks are looking to snowball and take over the mid-late game with a value engine
• Many early plays will get outclassed quickly unless the deck is aggressively focused
• Mana fixing is plentiful. Many decks will want to splash 
• In other words, build toward your synergy; you will have SOME time to get there

New Mechanic: Empower Jace

Cards which “Empower Jace” create a specific Jace planeswalker token if you don’t already have one, and then add a number of loyalty counters to it. It has “-3: draw a card” and “-1: surveil”. Every colour gets access to this mechanic, therefore early board presence and evasion will be as important as ever, in order to pressure your opponents’ Jace and protect your own.

Fixing

There is a cycle of 10 Common dual lands. Coming in untapped if you control a planeswalker makes “Empower Jace” more valuable in decks looking to splash. Room of Refuge can be set to any colour. There is also a cycle at rare.

Pick Order – “A’s”: Best Cards in the set (sorted by colour) – always first pick

• The Theorist, Jave Beleren
• Sublime Epiphany
• Garruk, Veiled Butcher
• Overwrite the Multiverse 
• Draconic Visitor
• Ajani Unrelenting
• Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• Garruk, Curse Breaker
• Denzilore Fatehold 
• Kwia Vigorbloom
• Uldaros Theorix

Pick Order – “B’s”: Early Picks (alphabetical by colour)

Cards that excel in the following criteria:

• Power Level
• Rate
• Flexibility
• Curve (ie cheap cards)
• Synergy

These cards will heavily influence your direction in the draft, ie which colours and Archetype you are drafting towards. Pick these above all Commons:

• Ajani Resulote
• Enlightened Confidant
• Liliana the Faultless
• Lyra, Archangel of Dawn
• Memory Trap
• Prophesied End
• Saheeli, Consul of Oversight
• Surgical Precision
• Teyo, Lightshield Expert
• Tomik, Orzhov Lawmage
• Way of the Healer
• Your Fate Ends Here
• Arni, Humble Scribe
• Countersculpt
• Diviner of Victory
• Icy Reception
• Infinite Coursework
• Jace, Reality Sculptor
• Lyra, Tolarian Archangel
• Mindseeker Oculus
• Plan for All Outcomes
• Proft, Consulting Detective
• Ruric Thar, Biomagus
• Sphinx of False Conclusions
• Way of the Mind Sculptor
• Break Under Pressure  
• Extended Absence 
• Gideon the Oathless 
• Last Gasp
• Lich’s Relic 
• Liliana the Repentant 
• Mind Twist 
• Multiply by Zero 
• Sanctum Lurker 
• Vraska’s Final Mercy 
• Command the Stage 
• Craterclaw Colossus 
• Curse-Marred Demon 
• Face Yourself 
• Fulminous Forte 
• Kiora of Fire and Ashes 
• Master of Barbs 
• No Admittance 
• Pia, Determined Rebuilder 
• Pyre Rhymer 
• Splinter Twin 
• Tetsuko Umezawa, Pursuer 
• Tomik, Izzet Sparkmage 
• Violent Echoes 
• Way of the Warlord 
• Wrath of the Bloodmane 
• Carnivorous Cultivator 
• Compel Brutality 
• Hexhaven Invigorator 
• Hungering Puppetbeast 
• Loot, the Nexus 
• Puppet Crafting 
• Simulacrum Shaper 
• Verdant Kraken 
• Way of the Wildspeaker 
• Aerid Konstrari 
• Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes 
• Bloombrute 
• Clash of Elements 
• Craftwork Crusher 
• Desperate Futurescribe 
• Hapatra, the Desert Fang 
• Ingris Stingerquill 
• Mind Meanderer 
• Null Summoner 
• Proctor of Potential 
• Saheeli, Jewel of Avishkar 
• Stingerquill Charm 
• Tenured Tethermage 
• Twisted Fates 
• Vigorbloom Charm 
• Vraska, the Cutting Glare 
• Warrior’s Blades 
• Emrakul, the Extingent Doom

Primary Archetypes. Here are my brief impressions of each of the two-colour archetypes in the format. We will be trying to end up in one of these by the end of the draft. Five of the colour pairs are well-supported and will be the most commonly drafted. The other five appear to be designed to act as support and augmentation to the main five. We’ll go over the well-supported archetypes first:

White-Blue Surveil 

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Desperate Futurescribe]], [[Fatehold Charm]], [[Prudent Fateseer]]

Common: [[Fatehold Chronologist]], [[Semester Foreseer]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Denzilore Fatehold]], [[Proctor of Potential]]

White-Blue cares about Surveilling and generating a wide board of creatures. Saheeli, Consul of Oversight is a nice mix of both. Proft, Consulting Detective is an early play that generates value over time. Cards which “Empower Jace” provide multiple Surveils and will be important here. 

Access to constant card selection is very powerful in limited. I expect White-Blue to perform well. 

White-Green Lifegain

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Bloombrute]], [[Vigorbloom Vanguard]], [[Vigorbloom Charm]]

Common: [[Emergency Phytomedic]], [[Blossom-Blessed Angel]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Kwia Vigorbloom]], [[Solarium Sentry]]

White-Green wants as many separate instances of lifegain as possible. Cards like Greenhouse Propogator, Koth of the Homestead, and creatures with Lifelink power up payoffs including Lyra, Archangel of Dawn, Way of the Mentor, and Titanbones, Towering Heart.

An old-favourite design but can struggle with consistency and drawing it’s cards in the wrong order. White-Green looks like it will slightly underperform.

Blue-Black Self-Mill 

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Paradox Shaper]], [[Recursive Recruitment]], [[Theorix Charm]]

Common: [[Theorix Metamage]], [[Void Extrapolator]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Null Summoner]], [[Uldaros Theorix]]

Blue-Black wants to put a lot of cards in it’s own graveyard. Reaching “Threshold” (seven or more cards in you graveyard), will power up certain cards. “Looting” effects such as Arni, Humble Scribe and Surveil effects help here as well. Cards with effects when in the graveyard such as Theoretical Necromancer will provide additional value when milled.

Blue-Black looks a little trickier to build and has less raw power than the other archetypes. I expect it to start off as an underperformer, but it may be a good “week 3” strategy if a couple of other archetypes take off in popularity. 

Black-Red Aggro

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Grim Repriser]], [[Stingerquill Charm]], [[Stingerquill Voxmancer]]

Common: [[Hallway Heckler]], [[Whiplash Wordsmith]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Ingris Stingerquill]], [[Stinging Vitriol]]

Black-Red is the aggro deck of the format. Many of it’s cards get buffed when the opponent is dealt noncombat damage. Top payoffs for this include Command the Stage, Master of Barbs, and Tomik, Izzet Sparkmage. Incidental damage on cards like Extended Absence, Screeching Soulbreaker and Tinybones, Pocket Nuisance is very valuable. Black-Red has an unusual amount of access to direct player damage and “any target” damage, which will make it very effective at closing out games if it gets ahead early. I expect Black-Red to be a top performer. 

Red-Green Ramp 

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Craftwork Crusher]], [[Konstrari Charm]], [[Woodwork Prodigy]], [[Heartwood Crafter]]

Common: [[Konstrari Improviser]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Aerid Konstrari]], [[Tenured Tethermage]]

Red-Green is focused on creating “Heartwood” tokens which are artifacts that can tap for Red or Green mana. It wants to ramp out huge threats like Kiora of Fire and Ashes. Look for artifact synergy in cards like Draconic Visitor and powerful activated abilities to sink your mana into. Red-Green looks like an absolute sledgehammer and fun to play. 

Way-To-Early Primary Archetype Rankings:

Black-Red
White-Blue
Red-Green
Blue-Black
White-Green

Secondary Archetypes. These have less raw support and will most likely compliment a Primary Archetype as a splash. In some cases, they may be powerful enough to stand on their own or act as a niche strategy once the best archetypes become contested in the draft.

White-Black Sacrifice

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Edgar, Ancient Bloodlord]], [[Twisted Fates]]

Common: [[Blessed Ghoul]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Vindictive Triumph]]

Sacrifice your own creatures and planeswalkers for value with payoffs like Loot, the Anomaly, Silence the Echo, and Way of the Deathbringer. Empower Jace will be useful as you can sacrifice a 1 loyalty Jace for value and then make another. White-Blue is the most likely pairing for this sub-strategy, having the most token generation and empower, although it doesn’t want to lose too much board presence. None of the other archetypes have synergy in this way and/or are dependant on a big board presence.  However Twisted Fates will be armstrong splash in any black-based deck.

White-Red Go-Wide 

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Mabel, Valley Hero]], [[Warrior’s Blades]]

Common: [[Charge the Sanctum]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Solitary Cell]]

White-Red has go-wide and +1/+1 counter synergies. It looks like it will pair well with White-Blue’s go-wide theme. Black-Red will likely be too focused to be able to splash for a 3-drop in Mabel, but could play Charge the Sanctum or Warrior’s Blades as needed.  

Blue-Red Spells 

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Clash of Elements]], [[Saheeli, Jewel of Avishkar]]

Common: [[Twinned Vision]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Frostbite Pyromental]]

Plan for All Outcomes and Traxos, Academy Guardian add two additional spells payoffs. Ruric Thar, Biomagus and Tetsuko Umezawa, Pursuer are two great threats with Prowess alongside a bevy of other creatures with that ability. Look for cheap spells to pair alongside them. 

Blue and Red both look very deep. I think Blue-Red has the best chance among the Secondary Archetypes of being draftable as it’s own deck. There is also a natural pairing alongside Blue-Black as noncreature spells get into the graveyard right away to fuel its payoffs.

Blue-Green Empower 

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Kiora of Salt and Sand]], [[Mind Meanderer]]

Common: [[Tam’s Resistance]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes]]

Mind Meanderer is excellent in any blue-based deck. In order to get the most out of Kiora, you will need a lot of Empower. If it sees any play at all, it will be as a splash in White-Blue or in a Blue-heavy deck.

Black-Green Graveyard

Signpost Cards

Uncommon: [[Primal Witchstalker]], [[Hapatra, the Desert Fang]]

Common: [[Ferocity of the Hunt]]

Rare/Mythic: [[Vraska, the Cutting Glare]]

Black-Green’s graveyard synergies make it a natural pairing for Blue-Black. I don’t see any crossover with White-Green, Red-Green or Red-Black.

Conclusion: It would appear that Blue-based decks have to most to gain from splashing secondary archetype pieces. Add that to being a very deep colour, Blue is ideal starting-point where possible in this format.

General Draft Strategy (8 Player Pick-1)

Picks 1-3: 

• Take the best card. Mono-coloured cards will leave us more open going forward.

Picks 4-8: 

• Continue to take the best card. We may have cards in multiple colours, and that’s ok. The better our early picks are, the more we will want to stick to that colour or colour pair. The worse our early picks are, the more willing we should be to take chances on other colours when we see good cards in later picks.

Picks 9-14: 

• These are the cards no one at the table wanted. If we are seeing good Uncommons of a particular colour pair, it is possible that no one else at the table is drafting that colour pair and we should strongly consider moving in. 

End of Pack 1:

• Ideally, we have identified our main colour. This is the colour we have the most quality cards of, or is the most open, and hopefully both!
• Staying as close to one colour as possible will leave us with more options going forward. 

Packs 2 and 3

• Continue to take powerful cards of our main colour where possible. Let the good cards we open or get passed determine our secondary colour and final archetype.
• Pay attention to Pack direction! The packs are moving in the opposite direction during Pack 2, so the signals can be completely different from Pack 1. It is normal to not see as many cards of our main colour/archetype in Pack 2, so don't panic! Pack 3 is passed to the left once again and we will be rewarded for staying the course.

Deck-Building Tips

• Play two colours. Avoid splashing a third colour unless your deck is specifically designed to do so (ie you have dual lands touching that colour). Splashing will be more common in Reality Fracture, but you still need to make sure you have the proper mana fixing!
• Play 17 lands.
• Play a low-curve. Most limited decks want six or more 2 Mana-Value creatures, around four 3 Mana-Value creatures, some 4 Mana-Values creatures, and very few cards that cost 5 or more mana.

Thank you for reading and watching. Good luck in your drafts! 

[[Heartwood Crafter]] is a very strong Magic card. I'm quite excited about it, and I've done a deep dive on it.

YouTube video is here: https://youtu.be/Z69CLPTPfZ4

I'll put the important points below so the video is optional. There are five sample decklists as well - three are iterations of existing / older decks, and two are new proof-of-concepts.

Card Analysis

• She's a one-mana Elf.
  • Critically, combined with Llanowar Elves this enables [[Elven Passage]].
  • Finding decks where that Heartwood Crafter works well with Elves (i.e. where the mana from Crafter works and you get the full benefits of having 8 elves)
• Her mana ability is weird but useful
  • Notably can be used for triggered and activated abilities. Most notably [[Ba Sing Se]].
  • She can cast spells from graveyards or exile, including her own prepared spell, Airbended spells, Prepared spells, Flashback spells, and spells on an Adventure.
  • [[Questing Druid]] is the most exciting of these as the mana can be used both on the flipped exiled cards, but also to cast the Druid itself.
  • The mana can be used for special actions (un-morphing, unlocking Rooms) but most critically, Plot! Having 8 ways to Plot [[Outcaster Trailblazer]] on Turn 2 enables and powers up a whole bunch of strategies.
• Her Prepared Spell (Soul Tether) turns her into a card and mana advantage piece
  • Between Crafter and the Heartwood token, this is a one-mana card that can provide two extra mana, split across two pieces of cardboard.
  • These pieces can be used independently - to attack, as sacrifice fodder, or to cast the same or different spells.
• The natural curve is Heartwood Crafter on one, into cast the Soul Tether on turn 2.
  • This gives us access to one mana extra. I think the key cards to use this mana are cheap red removal [[Burst Lightning]] / [[Torch the Tower]] as well as [[Heroes' Hangout]].
  • Turn one Crafter, turn two Soul Tether into Heroes' Hangout gives us up to 5 mana to play the exiled card on turn 3.

Decks

• Existing Strategies
  • Jund Sacrifice - Heartwood Crafter enables a turn 3 [[Rottenmouth Viper]] by herself. She also provides two rectangles to sacrifice (the Heartwood being both a Token and an Artifact is relevent here), and the mana ability can be used to sacrifice clues.
    • https://moxfield.com/decks/zXYHTHlIaEKRnwIBBwD3MA
  • Bant Airbending - A blast from the past. This deck loves the extra mana, which can be used for our own AIrbended cards (notably from [[Appa, Steadfast Guardian]]), as well as the flipped cards from [[Interdimensional Web Watch]].
    • https://moxfield.com/decks/UA3UAquh8UiNvXgCwRBOiQ
  • Devestating Onslaught Combo - I think this is probably the best deck here. This deck absolutely loves Heartwood Crafter - we not have 8 ways to plot the Trailblazer on turn 2, and we have a bunch of useful mana sinks like [[Winternight Stories]], [[Esper Origins]], and [[Quantum Riddler]]. For anyone who hasn't seen this deck before, the idea is that we [[Devestating Onslaught]] either the [[Railway Brawler]] or the TRailblazer and semi-combo kill from there.
    • https://moxfield.com/decks/bpKWac-2b0m5-xVScYEs2Q
• New Strategies
  • Little Gruul - This deck is built around the combination of Questing Druid and Heratwood Crafter to get on board early and generate mana and card advantage. The curve is low but we have cheap card advantage with [[Stingcaster Mage]] and [[Gandalf, Goblin's Bane]] - both of which have nice synergy with the Crafter.
    • https://moxfield.com/decks/j-uO0ORJUkaAqze0PFC3dA
  • Big Gruul - An attempt to build a deck that maximises both the Questing Druid and the Outcaster Trailblazer. This is a heavy-mana RG beatdown strategy that has 12 mana dorks, and a pile of card advantage.
    • https://moxfield.com/decks/VJNruRd4NkiSy68tdDxkww

I'm really excited about this card, let me know if you guys have been building Heartwood Crafter decks as well.

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

Every MTG set that comes out, I combine Limited set reviews into one table. For Reality Fracture, I collected ratings from 10 published review sources. The site lists an eleventh source, Jim Davis, but he contributes commentary rather than card grades and does not count as an aggregate vote.

Because reviewers use different grading systems, I convert grades to a fixed, documented 0-100 limited comparison index. Five-point ratings are multiplied by 20 and ten-point ratings by 10.

Overall rank is based on the mean normalized score. For readability, the table converts the normalized median and full range back to the site's letter scale. Those are grade equivalents, not necessarily the exact letters originally assigned by each reviewer.

Where do the reviewers disagree?

I used an IQR of at least 20 points as the cutoff for broad reviewer disagreement.

IQR measures the spread of the middle 50% of ratings. It is less affected by one unusually high or low rating, so this identifies cards where disagreement runs through a meaningful portion of the panel. The 10 Special Guest cards are excluded from the main count because substantially fewer reviewers graded them. By this definition, 67 of the 280 main-set cards, or 23.9%, qualify.

For drafters, these are basically the cards where the pre-set consensus is weakest. The aggregate rank can still be useful, but there is considerably less agreement about what the card is actually worth.

Three cards tie for the widest IQR at 40 points:

• Face Yourself
• Frostbite Pyromental
• Hexhaven Invigorator

Face Yourself has the widest full range, from F- to A, with normalized ratings ranging from 0 to 95.

There is still fairly strong consensus among the top-ranked cards in the set. None of the main-set cards ranked #1-44 meet the broad-disagreement threshold.

The first is Draconic Visitor at #45.

Other relatively highly ranked examples include:

• Diviner of Victory // Unwind History: #81
• Rise of the Deathbringer: #86
• Saheeli, Consul of Oversight: #107
• Tarmogoyf: #108

Full Reality Fracture rankings, every individual grade, reviewer notes, rating distributions, and the draft companion are here.

The 50 largest broad disagreements

These are the 50 largest IQRs among the 67 qualifying main-set cards. They are ordered by IQR, then SD. Overall rank measures card strength, not controversy.

I also looked separately at standard deviation. SD measures overall spread around the mean and uses every grade, so extreme ratings affect it more than they affect IQR. These 11 additional main-set cards have SD of at least 15 but IQR below 20. They do not meet the broad-split definition above.

Kindred Judgment is probably the clearest example of why the two measures tell different stories. Its middle half spans only 5 points, but the full ratings run from D to A.

Special Guests

Only four reviewers graded each of these, so they stay separate from the 280-card main-set analysis.

Which of these reviewer disagreements stands out to you most?

https://youtu.be/rJWo4TCUqvM?si=j0E7FoT9l2joqCld

Reality Fracture drops this Tuesday. In this video, I discuss the first deck I'll be trying in Standard: Boros Planeswalkers. Built around the new Ajani Unrelentaing, the deck ramps into Planeswalkers, draws cards by discarding redundant legends, and turns the corner quickly by attacking with hasty tokens.

I did not have early access, but I watched a lot of it, and Ajani Unrelenting is the card that stood out to me as the most powerful new option for Standard. Ajani wants you to play lots of Planeswalkers, and Boros provides two excellent tools for ramping into them: Way of the Pyromancer and Gideon's Memorial. Between the walkers and the two drops, that's 26(!) legendary permanents to discard with Key to the Side Door and new friend Solitary Cell.

To me, this feels like enough power and synergy to produce a very real Standard deck. We'll find out on Tuesday. In the meantime, let me know what you think or if you have any ideas to improve the list.

Edit: The list is linked in the YouTube description, but I'll save you a click: Boros Walkers // Standard deck list mtg // Moxfield — MTG Deck Builder

Hey Spikes!

We're back with another Sealed guide for what very well might be the best Limited set of 2026 (it's gonna be Star Trek, isn't it?). A little bit of personal bias here, but this hasn't exactly been a stellar year for Limited (and I rather enjoyed TMNT, SOS, and MSH).

Reality Fracture's got a lot going on between the empower Jace mechanic, the repeat prepared spells, and the Echoed Pairs that'll show up in every pack. I personally missed Early Access this time, so may you can fill me in on the early stories about this set. But Bryan Hohns' Sealed Guide covers a good bit:

• Might wanna sit down for this one, but the rares look good. I can't remember a Play Booster era set where that wasn't true (HOB maybe?), but Bryan's "bomb" count was pretty high.
• Just from looking at the set file, there doesn't seem to be a clear winner. Let me know if Early Access made it seem otherwise, but the intended archetypes are heavily supported, partially due to using the same prepared spells across the lower-rarity cards.
• Echoed Pairs will still matter for Sealed, but you can do some signal-reading in Draft with the way these are collated into packs (two of your three Echoed Pair cards will always be a matching pair).
• You can Splinter Twin people if you're one of the lucky few to see the Special Guests card.

For me, the biggest question marks are the play patterns with Empower Jace, and whether or not Theorix self-mill will pan out. Hopefully it's a sweet part of the format, but the aggressive decks look pretty good too.

Let me know what you're thinking about Reality Fracture before it drops on Arena next week, happy prereleasing, and hope the guide helps: https://draftsim.com/mtg-reality-fracture-sealed-guide/

Small plug here too, that our team has started The Daily Upkeep Podcast, and our first major episode is a video/audio version prepping people for Reality Fracture. Have a listen and give us your feedback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsoh3xT3TE

https://youtu.be/ED8x3THsPc8

If you're interested in aggro decks in Standard BO3 then this deck and video are for you!

This is currently my favourite deck in magic and feel a lot more people should know about it and give it a shot, it's currently not a top tier meta but can still perform and win a lot of games quickly or out of nowhere.

If you'd like to take about the video or the deck I will be more than happy to chat as I love talking about Magic in general.

I've been testing splashing white and making it even more aggro with 4x [[Voice of victory]] and the results are kind of insane. I also added 4x [[Break Out]] and took out everything over 2 CMC except a single rottenmouth.

Voice of victory does a TON for the deck. Firstly it's a 2 drop, so it slots in perfect into your main engine. If your opponent isn't careful, you can sneak it in with Break Out or Living Dirge and they won't be able to interact with you with spells as you combo off. It forces them to use their counters and removal on it otherwise you're just free on your turn.

3 damage and 2 tokens to sac on attack is super nice and synergizes with the sacs and token burn.

Just casually playing with doing other stuff, I was 4 winning trad standard events , and if I really locked in it could have been 5 a few times I'm sure.

Feels super strong, and mana was not an issue in about 30 games of testing with all the ways to make any color of mana.

EDIT: I'm home. Full list in the comments. Anyone who doubts this is an aggro deck can DM me, I'm collecting images of all my turn 4 wins tonight.

I'm noticing a lot of Boros Dragons lists doing well, like this one for example. I'm playing it and it feels like this may be a deck that you have to mulligan super aggressively for a good hand, or you're just cooked.

So for example, I just played against Jund Sac with the list posted above. My opening hand is:

1x Mountain

1x [[Sunbillow Verge]]

2x [[Burst Lightning]]

2x [[Voice of Victory]]

1x [[Smaug, the Magnificent]]

Opponent goes first, plays a [[gene pollinator]]. I take my turn, draw [[Sarkhan]] and bolt the bird. Opponent plays a [[biotech specialist]]. I draw [[erode]] and play Sarkhan, showing Smaug for the treasure. Opponent plays [[Sacksville Bagginses]]. I erode the biotech specialist using my treasure so that they don't get the sacksville/biotech burn. In retrospect, this may have been my biggest error because I never drew a third land. I thought that I needed to get rid of the specialist so the opponent wouldn't be able to get both of them going, but instead I gave them a land and prevented myself from ever playing Smaug. Opponent of course drew another biotech and burned me out pretty easily. So for game 1 I don't know if I should have mulliganed for a hand with [[Momo]] or a third land? It seems like Momo is always in the most explosive draws this deck has.

Game 2 my hand was

1x Plains

1x Sunbillow Verge

1x Muliversal Passage

2x Momo

1x Clarion Conqueror

1x Smaug

This hand was perfect for this matchup with the conqueror, especially with me going first. I went Momo into conqueror into Smaug, and it was over.

Game 3 my inital hand was a 1 lander with the 1 land being [[Cavern of Souls]]. I did have Momo and I may have kept a 1 lander on the play if it was a red/white land, but not if it's cavern of souls. Mulliganed, got

2x Cavern of Souls

1x Multiversal Passage

1x Sacred Foundry

1x Get Lost

1x Twinmaw Stormbrood

1x Nova Hellkite.

I kept this hand even though it sucks because I didn't want to go to 5. Put back one of the caverns and proceeded to get absolutely wrecked by the opponent drawing 2 sacksvilles and 2 biotech specialists. I even drew a Clarion Conqueror and thought maybe it would save me but my opponent immediately shot the sheriff.

So should I have mulliganed again? I feel like my second hand is not a totally unusual hand for this deck, got some creatures and some lands and some removal, but it's just not anywhere near explosive enough.

Also, I sideboarded out erode because Jund Sac is so low to the ground that I didn't want to be giving them extra lands, but I realized that Get Lost is probably even worse because it gives them maps and they want nothing more than a bunch of little artifacts to sac. I did sideboard in 4x [[seam rip]] but of course never drew them.

Have enough resources on mtgo to build one, but havent been able to play the format regularly for about 5ish years. Any tips on which deck to build to grind mtgo leagues and why would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I ended up dropping a Leatherhead and replacing Badgemole Cup with three Bejeweled Wargs and two Frenzied Bailoths. I’m running a Gene Pollinator version of the deck with a decent amount of removal: two Seam Rips, two Melt Striders, and two Sheltered by Ghosts in the mainboard.
The deck is still incredibly fast. Being able to give Bejeweled Warg double strike on turn three puts you in an advantageous position that is almost impossible for your opponent to come back from most of the time. Sheltered by Ghost feels amazing and wins games very frequently in aggro matchups.
The only matchup I seem to struggle with is Spellementals. I’ve been playing this deck and making minor tweaks since the bans, and it’s been feeling very good. I finished top 250 last month, around 500 the month before that, and I’m currently 70th on the list.
I’ve been pretty busy on the weekends, so I haven’t had a chance to attend an RCQ yet, but I have a couple coming up that I’m looking forward to trying the deck out at. There’s a decent number of Spell Elemental players in the local meta.
If anyone has good tips for playing against them, I’m all ears. I’m running three Rest in Peace and a full Red Lantern in the sideboard for the matchup, but it still doesn’t feel great. It feels like a less-than-50% matchup, while no other matchup feels that difficult.

Deck
4 Llanowar Elves (FDN) 227
3 Bejeweled Warg (HOB) 117
3 Gene Pollinator (EOE) 186
3 Surrak, Elusive Hunter (TDM) 161
2 Starting Town (FIN) 289
3 Abandoned Air Temple (TLA) 263
4 Hushwood Verge (DSK) 261
2 Plains (J25) 83
2 Seam Rip (EOE) 34
2 Meltstrider's Resolve (EOE) 199
2 Sheltered by Ghosts (DSK) 30
4 Pawpatch Recruit (BLB) 187
4 Temple Garden (ECL) 268
4 Practiced Offense (SOS) 25
4 Brightglass Gearhulk (DFT) 191
4 Forest (DFT) 289
2 Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker (TMT) 117
1 Shardmage's Rescue (DSK) 29
2 Multiversal Passage (SPM) 180
2 Ouroboroid (EOE) 201
1 Ba Sing Se (TLA) 266
2 Frenzied Baloth (EOE) 183

Sideboard
1 Sheltered by Ghosts (DSK) 30
2 Requisition Raid (SOA) 10
2 Erode (SOS) 15
3 Rest in Peace (BIG) 4
1 Soul-Guide Lantern (BRR) 54
1 Zack Fair (FIN) 45
1 Ouroboroid (EOE) 201
2 Dawn's Truce (BLB) 9
2 Jennifer Walters (MSH) 18

Started playing Excruciator and MODOK is a card I don't know when to put in. It seems good against dimir midrange for all of the one toughness creatures but that's all. Also when I have him in play I don't know when to activate his connive ability. 3 life always seems like a heavy price. Thanks for the help.

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

Good morning everyone! I took part in my first Standard RCQ of the season yesterday and walked away with a qualification!

I was playing my ol’ reliable Jeskai Artifacts:
https://archidekt.com/decks/26451678/jeskai_artifacts

————————————————————————————————-
R1 vs Spellementals:
In G1 my opponent played Opt on turn 1 and I knew this round was a formality. I have played this match up probably 50+ times on Arena and I think I only lost to it ~5 times. G1 and G2 both ended in his creature being either under Perilous Snares or tapped from Braided Nets and me swinging for lethal.

(1-0) R2 vs Dwarves:
This is a deck that I haven’t had the chance to play since it is so new. But with that in mind, just like any other low to ground aggro deck it folds to well timed Pinnacle Starcages and large Constructs that don’t care about how much life you gain. I took G1 in that similar fashion, I lost G2 on a very stupid 1 land hand keep and I never found another one, and then won game 3 after getting 3 Pinnacles on board regardless of the fact that he gained 20+ life. A little scary situation when I goofed keeping a bad opener, but still sitting 2-0 going into R3.

(2-0) R3 vs 4-Color Rev Control?:
The one thing I have always despised is playing this deck into hard control matchups, especially ones with Inevitable Defeats. But I was able to land a Repurposing Bay in G1 and eventually got to an unbeatable board state with large Constructs and took the game. Game 2 was a more traditional game vs control for me, where any time I landed a synthesizer or even an early Phoenix Fleet Airship it was swiftly removed and I just couldn’t do anything. G3 was one of the weirdest games I’ve ever played. We basically both drew nothing, so I was on a beatdown plan with my flipped Clay-Fire Bricks and the 1/1 creatures it created. Unfortunately neither of us could find a win in time and this round ended in a draw.

(2-0-1) R4 vs 4-Color Control:
I wasn’t excited to play into this again, but my opponent didn’t seem like he had ever seen my deck before, so I kind of just walked all over him and he didn’t really interact, odd I know. Not much else to say, took it in a swift 2-0.

(3-0-1) R5 vs June Sac:
We ID’d and I went and got lunch.

After the 5 rounds of Swiss and cut to T8 I was sitting in 3rd at 3-0-2, and got to play Jund Sac in QFs.

Quarterfinals vs Jund Sac:
This was also a new deck that I haven’t played against, so I was learning as we were playing, but ultimately it was another deck that kind of folds to Pinnacle Starcage. I took G1 in relatively easy fashion, removing the Sackville Bagginses ever time they hit the board, and ending it with an army of constructs. G2 I drew only removal, and he ultimately landed an Ouroboriod with 2 Obsessive Pursuit’s out and I just kept drawing lands. G3 was a grindfest, but I staved off a 19 power double-striking, lifelinking Leatherhead and got it done with 60+ power of constructs.

My opponent in the Semi-Finals was the Dwarves player from R2 and he said he just didn’t want to waste his time playing a virtually unwinnable matchup, so he conceded and I got my qualification!
————————————————————————————————-

This is my favorite deck I have ever played in any format, and I’m glad to see it in a good spot right now. Hopefully I can still say that come RC time, since it is right before rotation and it will be the last chance for me to play it before it Simulacrum Synthesizer rides off into the Standard sunset forever.

Sup what's up, it's Casual Spike. Spoiler is complete and we are gearing up for a brand new limited format! To help you tackle it, I've put together these materials to provide a jumping off point for those newer to, or more established in, limited to find their bearings in Reality Fracture.

My full main set review lists the mechanics in the set as well as a card by card analysis, punctuated with a letter grade and may include a build-around qualifier denoted with a little hammer next to the letter grade. Reality Fracture Visual Set Review will open the document. 

The slide deck covers my color power rankings, available fixing, top commons/uncommons, and tricks/removal in each color. I also cover each of the 10 assigned archetypes Gameplan, Signposts, and an example "ideal average" deck skeleton, with sealeddeck hyperlink, to help visualize what the archetype may look like to better help you find success in your Reality Fracture Limited events. Access the slides with Reality Fracture Limited Primer.

The google sheets breakdown document provides a cleaner, more simple viewing experience, including: Full Set List with placement scores and grading, Trick/Removal Identification, Mechanics list, my picks for top commons/uncommons, all sealeddeck links for the archetypes, as well as various links for the Wiki, 17lands Tier List, and a Discord invite to the MTGRebellion, a competitive focused discord, where I've been building a Limited community. Access the sheet with Reality Fracture Limited Breakdown.

Also, I added a brand-new feature to my breakdown sheets starting with The Hobbit. I now grade my prediction accuracy and put it out there for the world to see! Once 17lands data is added at about the 1mo mark the results will auto-populate forcing me to lose 20% accuracy for each grade I'm off! I'm excited to have some accountability open to all moving forward. Additionally, I retroactively used these formulas to grade all my previous set breakdown sheets and see how I've been doing while following the same metrics. I'll keep the info up to date here Prediction Accuracy moving forward.

What are your thoughts on the set, anything stand out that you're excited to try?

I’ve recently been dabbling with spellamentals and checking side boards to figure out what a good 75 looks like. I keep seeing annul and get abit confused by it every time. To my knowledge the decks plan is often to sideboard into a lower to the ground prowess style with the stallion and hydro man anyway often in my eyes cutting some of its graveyard synergy. Is it strictly to deal with rest in peace? I just kept checking deck lists and find very limited targets for it compared to something like flash freeze which seems to be a 1 of compared to the always 2 of annul. And if just for rest in peace wouldn’t snare be more common in the list but often see it relegated to the side with annuls if in the 75 as more than a 1 of. I’m aware there are other matchups like cool but rude, or its ability to stop the sapling nursery. In my eyes though both would be better handled by a flash freeze as well with it being able to handle other cards in the 75 of those lists. Input appreciated as I’m still abit new to the current standard after not playing it for abit.